What Words To Use....

[nikrhithokaylin]

Hi everyone...

We have a little cav who is doing fab with her training, she is just a pet but I want her to be a well behaved pet.

Because we have little kids she often gets things that she shouldn't (her fave is the babies dummy :rolleyes: ) and I always tell her to 'Drop It', is this going to cause too much confussion the the "drop' command? If so what one should I change?

Also what is the best way to teach them to 'Stay'?

[Vehs]

people in the household need to be consistent with whatever you chose, here are my commands:

drop = lay down

give = let go of that object

with stay the important thing is to not progress too quickly, you want to build a solid stay for time and distance away from you (don't increase time and distance at the same time ie. don't move one meter futher away and get the dog to stay 20 seconds longer in the same instance)

you probably want to start with the dog sitting and you standing close (but not intimidatingly) in front of her and just waiting for 10secs and rewarding her while she is still still ... as you progress in time and distance try and get savvy to what her 'breaking' behaviour might be so you can approach and reward her before she breaks, it could looking around, moving her feet etc

others may have different techniques, have you thought about joining a puppy class?

[Kavik]

Yes using the same word for two different things will confuse the dog. Best to use one word = one action.

Doesn't matter which one you change, as long as you are consistent and use the same word for the same thing. Like Vehs I use Drop for lie down and Give for let go of object.

Common alternatives are:

Lie Down:

Down

Drop

Lie

Deck

Let go of object:

Drop

Give

Out

[TerraNik]

I use:

Down (lying down)

Give (give it to me out of your mouth)

Leave it (don't go near that with your mouth!)

I quite like the way my OB club introduces stay to puppies. I thought it was quite cute!

Put the puppy in drop/down position and hold into their collar (you need to crouch or sit next to them). Then put a bunch of treats in front of them. Give the cue "stay" with hand signal and mark (yes/click) and reward with one of the treats in front of them.

As the pup gets better you stop holding onto their collar and you start standing up. Then once they're doing well you remove the treats in front of them and start increasing the distance between you and the pup.

Never increase time and distance at the same time - only ever one or the other.

[Nicole...]

We use "give" to ask Lomani to give us the object she is holding.

We also use "leave it" to stop her from picking it up in the first place... this is a good one to practice so that you can bark it out for urgent items like canetoads!

For "stay" we would put her in a drop or sit and then give her the stay command, take one step away and then come straight back to reward. We gradually took more and more steps away to increase the distance and time she held it for. One important thing I remember being taught is that you have to always go back to the dog to reward - don't call them to you or otherwise you will be rewarding their recall instead of their stay.